Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/1078587
graduation. "She let me write, she let me illustrate and she let me go to shows," says Seidler. "It wasn't what I had in mind as the start to my career, but it made me see everything and that was an amazing opportunity." -i`iÀiÛiÌÕ>Þ>`iÃÜ>ÞL>VÌ`iÃ}>Ì*À>`>]wÀÃÌ in-store design and then creating prints in menswear. "Illustration really paved the way for me to enter accessory design," he says. "Whether I was a journalist or a designer, illustration has always been with me and has helped me embrace the freer side of fashion." Seidler has racked up an impressive list of credentials in both the brand and editorial worlds. Two favorites: discovering a window display he created for Miu Miu as he walked down the street in London and designing ultra-luxurious scarves for Asprey. "The project was to design the most beautiful scarves and the price didn't matter," he says. "We came up with innovative techniques where we could print on both sides of a silk scarf, developed in an Italian factory that sadly no longer exists." Today he designs for a prominent fashion house and lives with husband Stuart Vevers, executive creative director at Coach, in New York. He illustrates for various magazines and brands (stay tuned for a series of collages for Marc Jacobs) and is always open to new endeavors, such as designing invitations for weddings or fashion shows. Scroll through his IG feed and in addition to those eye-grabbing collages, you'll see charismatic illustrations of Karl Lagerfeld, Diana Vreeland and other fashion royalty. "My favorite illustrations of Ben's are always his portraits," says Sui. "Not only does he delicately capture the likeness of a person, he can reveal their true inner essence." "It's one of my most pure fashion drawings—just colored pencils on paper," Seidler says of this Diana Vreeland illustration. "I wanted to really distill what she was all about." Above: A portrait of Seidler by Petra Collins. Opposite: Seidler's illustration of Rei Kawakubo. "When you think Comme des Garçons, you think out- there and conceptual," says Seidler. "Drawing someone severe in such a tender way makes you think about her in a different way." 126 BAL HARBOUR